Flu season
by ebonygrayqueen
Summary: Takes place before Sanctuary. Flu season hits, and with it comes three new arrivals, one a nurse.  When she gets taken with Tom's group on a routine run will she be able to pull her own weight? Or will she falter and cost the group a life.
1. Chapter 1

It seemed that the harder she pressed, the more blood seeped out of the shoulder wound, drenching her hands. She growled in frustration, and used her knee to apply pressure to Tom's shoulder. He was lying on the ground his body sheltered by the long dead truck. Balanced over him, one knee applying pressure she reached into her backpack, fishing for the all-important syringe. She ignored the blood that covered her hands and was soaking though her cargo pants. Tom groaned in pain and tried to push her away; she took the moment to reassure him. If she could get him to calm down she could see to the damage to his shoulder.

All around her she could hear gunfire, those of the men who had been with them, and from the Mech that had attacked them. The night's darkness was broken at random intervals by the muzzle blasts from the automatic weapons around her. The acid smell of gunpowder burned her throat.

"Leave me, get back to the group, get to safety," Tom said, one arm flailing near her face, trying to push her away.

"I am not done with you yet sir, now hush, I am not going anywhere without you." Her voice assumed the no nonsense tone she had always used with difficult patients that were scared enough to do them selves harm.

The moonless night didn't offer much light, she silently cursed herself as she fished in her pack for a flashlight. The syringe barrel was in her mouth, and the vial of morphine was in her hip pocket. Suddenly there was more then enough light, fear froze her in place as the Mech focused it attention on the humans that were not fighting back. For one brief moment she though, this is it, then there was a loud noise…and then the world went dark.

A few days earlier

Sun streamed through leaves on a fine sunny day with just hint of winters bite. It was still warm enough for just a light jacket, but the nights had begun to get colder then were comfortable. Tom loved this weather, loved seeing the trees fill with color as the leaves changed and fell off. He loved the sunsets that only happened this time of year. He took a deep breath, and savored the clean crispness that was only possible because there were so few cars putting out pollution now. His back was to the school where he and so many others survivors had taken refuge. It was his home, and he would do whatever he had to do to protect it and the most precious thing in the world that was in it, his children.

As if the thought materialized them Tom smiled as he heard Hal and Ben arguing about the most ridiculous of topics-who was better at lacrosse. He spun and watched as his two eldest approaches him, each one held a stick, and Hal was throwing the ball in the air and catching it in his net.

"I don't know what you plan to prove, other then that you still have no hand eye coordination-" Hal teased.

"Ya Ya, lets just let actions speak louder then words." Ben came back with.

"I'm telling you, your just going to embarrass yourself." Hal continued.

Hal walked past Tom with barely a nod, while Ben gave him a shy smile. Tom just watched them, a smile tugging the corners of his lips, should he stay and watch? No he decided, they needed some time to be siblings for a while. He watched for a moment longer, and saw Hal mess up Ben's hair, before turning and heading inside.

His first stop was to check on Dr. Anne Glass where she always was in the classroom that served as their clinic. He was a little surprised to see so many people waiting for her attention. Several parents with children were waiting their turn in the hallway. Tom listened long enough to hear the tell tale signs of coughing and sniffling to know that they had entered flu season. He wondered how long their antibiotics would last…and decided to leave that in Dr. Glass's capable hands.

He detoured to the science lab to check on how Matt was getting along with whatever Uncle Scott had come up with for him. Tom couldn't thank the elder man enough for helping Matt feel like he was contributing. Matt had felt so left out when Hal and his father had been on missions, Tom made a mental note to see if Ben could help as well. It would keep him occupied, and help him feel important.

Tom stopped outside the door that was open just a crack and listened.

"See this part right here?" Uncle Scott asked.

"The part with a pointed bit?" Matt asked

A smile pulled at Tom's lips to hear the excitement in his son's voice.

"Very good. That part rite there is called the idle speed-adjusting corkscrew. Do you know what idle is?"

"When the car goes real slow?"

Uncle Scott chuckled, "That's part of it, it's kind of like the baseline for the engine, your going to need to know all this so you can help me fix up the truck and keep it running fine."

"Uncle Scott? It's not really running that great, shouldn't Dai look a it?"

Tom covered his mouth to keep from laughing. Uncle Scott hated working on the beat up truck that they needed to haul equipment, but that didn't mean that he didn't take pride in it when it ran.

He left at that point, not waiting to hear Uncle Scott's response and headed to classroom that was serving as their command headquarters. He wasn't on duty for a few more hours, but since his sons were all occupied he might as well be kept up on what was going on. He was surprised to hear raised voices and slipped into the back of the classroom.

Weaver caught Tom's eye, but kept his focus on the three new people in front of him, Dai and Anthony behind him. Tom eyed the newcomers, two women and man. The pile of weapons on the desk behind Weaver must have been what the new arrivals had on them.

"We didn't mean to scare everyone, really, just give us our weapons back, and we will be on our way." The shorter of the girls was speaking, she had dirty blond hair, but Tom couldn't really see her features from where he was. She wasn't thin, but not overly curvy either, her clothing looked to big for her like she had recently lost weight, Tom would put her age in the low thirties.

"No Samantha, we have a better chance here then if we stay on our own." The other girl said, she had brown hair, almost copper in color, and was tall, for a girl, Tom would put her at about 5'10, but she was to thin, like she hadn't been eating well. No one had been eating well for a few months he guessed. Of the three Tom would guess she was the youngest, maybe just shy of 30.

"There are too many people here, the aliens are sure to be able to spot this many, we are safer alone and far away from here." Samantha said.

Weaver looked between the two girls and raised his eyes to the man, "do you care to weigh in on this?"

The man looked at Samantha a long moment then glanced at the other girl, "Sam you know she's right, lets just keep moving." He had brown hair, and a well-muscled body, but like the elder girl his cloths hung loose as if he had lost weight recently. He looked to be about 35.

"No, I can't believe you two!" Sam crossed her arm. "You can go, I am staying."

The man took a step towards her and grabbed her arm tight enough to burse, "That's not an option, we are not splitting up."

Tom walked forward and silently placed his hand on the mans shoulder, "And I think you need to let her go." Tom and the other man had a staring contest for a moment before the other looked away. The man dropped his arm, and took a step back from Tom, who dropped his. Tom kept his eyes on the man long enough for him to look up at him again and away before he turned his attention to Sam, "are you ok?"

"Peachy, just stuck with this stubborn ass for the past six months." Sam said angrily, then almost as an afterthought she added, "thanks."

"Don't mention it," Tom said he looked as Weaver and asked with a slight shake of his head, what's going on?

Weaver cleared his throat, "Dai and Anthony came across these three in working '67 pick up truck. They escorted them here to debrief them, find out if they have seen any skitters or signs of others. They were here a total of about three seconds before this one-" and he pointed to Samantha, " decided she wanted nothing to do with us."

"We shouldn't be here it isn't safe." Samantha said, sticking her chin up as if to challenge them to deny it.

Tom watched the way that Samantha and the other man stood close together, and were holding hands. Then returned his attention to Weaver.

"And that's about when you came in." Weaver crossed his arms, and leaned back against the desk behind him. "We are just trying to sort things out."

Nodding Tom glanced at the other girl, Sam. "Why do you want to stay here?"

She was rubbing her arm where the man had grabbed her, "I need a change, I love you-" she faced the other two in her group, "you know that Derek, Samantha. But I need a change, we have been running for so long, never getting a full nights rest, couldn't we stay even for a day or two?" She looked to Weaver and Tom at the end.

"How do you all know each other," Weaver asked, thought he didn't seem all that interested.

Sam answered before the other two could, "Derek is my brother, and Samantha is his girlfriend. We have been traveling together since the first wave of the invasion."

"How did you get so many weapons? This is a pretty impressive collection, though no automatics." Tom asked trying to keep his voice light.

Derek eyed the guns on the table behind Weaver and licked his lips, "most of them I owned before the invasion. Dear hunting and just collecting them. The rest we picked up after, we stayed to smaller towns, and were able to hit gun stores that others either didn't know about, or didn't bother with because they were so far off the main roads."

Nodding Tom had to admire the simple efficiency of that thought, they had been mainly in larger cities, because more survivors were present, they hadn't really looked into the smaller towns they passed, other then for distribution centers for food and other supplies.

"What did you do before the attack?" Weaver asked.

Again Sam took the lead, "Samantha was a elementary school teacher, Derek ran the overhaul shop at the airport in our home town, and I worked at the hospital as a nurse in the ER."

Tom made a face, "ER? Why there? Why not a floor nurses? Or anywhere else that would see less blood and guts."

Sam smiled, and Tom noticed the slight dimples "I like the ER, never the same thing two nights in a row."

Tom made an involuntary shudder, which made Weaver smile. "A nurse? What no ambition to be a Dr.?" Weaver asked without any tact.

Sam glared at him, but didn't answer.

"Mechanic eh?" Weaver continued looking at Derek, "We could definitely use your help, if you're willing to stay for a few days."

Derek looked at Samantha who shook her head, "Just for a few days? See how it goes?"

"We could use someone who is good with the little ones too, we have a fair number of children here, we try to keep teaching them what they would be learning normally, but having a actual teacher would be a boon."

Samantha seemed to perk up at the idea of being useful. Weaver raised an eyebrow at Tom after his statement, Tom ignored him.

"Dai why don't you show them where they can store there things and if he's willing, where Derek can take a look at our motorcycles," Weaver said without taking his eyes off the group.

Dai stepped away from the wall and opened the door at the front of the classroom.

Derek made to follow then pointed behind Weaver to their guns.

"Take them, just be careful, there are a lot of little ones around." Weaver waved them away. Tom and Weaver were silent until they others left the room. "'Having an actual teacher would be a boon?' what the hell do you call being a university professor?"

Tom laughed, "Its what she needed to hear to want to stay."

"Back to that point, why do you want them to stay? The shorter one seems like a bit of a bitch, the tall one clearly has no ambition, a nurse? What we need is another Dr."

"We could use the mechanic." Tom pointed out, not thinking it was worth it to argue that nurses did serve an important function.

Weaver nodded, "we could."

"Did they have any news we don't know? More survivor groups maybe? Skitter sightings?" Tom asked, he turned to Anthony who had remained silent in the room so far.

"They didn't mention anything while we were with them." Anthony said shaking his head.

Too bad Tom thought they hadn't had any news from the other groups since Dr. Harris had been left with them nearly two weeks ago.

"They are here now, we may as well make the best of it," Weaver said in a dismissive way.

Tom and Anthony exchanged a look, both of them knowing that was as close as Weaver would come to saying 'welcome' to the new comers.

On his way out on patrol Tom stopped by Dr. Glass's clinic again, hoping to have a few words with her. The line to get in was smaller but still present. He nodded to those in line and walked into the science room that was serving as the clinic. Lourdes gave him a quick smile from where she stood with a small boy and his father; the boy had a thermometer in his mouth and a runny nose. Tom smiled back and continued on to the next curtained area and was surprised to see Sam standing behind a little girl with a stethoscope to her back while the little girl tried to take deep breaths without coughing. If Sam saw him, she didn't respond.

Dr. Glass was behind the third curtain, without a patient, drying her hands after a recent wash. She smiled brightly at him and signaled for him to follow her quietly. Dr. Glass led Tom to the classroom next door and closed the door most of the way behind them. "Hey, how are things?" Dr. Glass asked with a bright smile.

Tom smiled back, "they are good, I see you know we have a nurse with us now."

"Yes, she's great, a life safe. Literally. She had a few crates full of antibiotics, medical narcotics, and other supplies." Dr. Glass said with feeling.

"She had what?" Tom asked in disbelief.

Dr. Glass nodded, "She said she had been stocking up every chance they got, every town they were in she would go to as many clinics as she could find and cleared them out of anything she thought would come in handy. And she had great timing, with this cold going around I was really worried about how low our antibiotic levels were going to get."

Tom was still dumfounded, "how did she find you?"

"She said she followed the chorus of coughs." Dr. Glass laughed a little. "She got her RN right out of high school, and has 7 years experience, 5 of them in the ER."

"Well that's, that's great." Tom said. "I'm glad you will be getting extra help."

Dr. Glass crossed her arm, "with this cold going around I am going to need all the help I can get."


	2. settling in

I apologies for the delay! Life got in the way! But now I have plenty of time to write! So Enjoy! And please review!

Tom wandered the halls of the school, a smile pulling at the corners of his lips as he remembered his sons 'kicking' him out of the room they shared. Hal had abandoned persuasion and tact and told him flat out to leave. It had been the pleading look that Matt gave him that finally sent him from the room. If his hunch was right his boys were trying to figure out some kind of a birthday gift for him. He had been sure they each had a birthday-well except Ben who's had past while he had been harnessed. His smile faltered at that thought, as it always did when he thought of his middle son being taken by the aliens. He shook his head to clear the bad thoughts and hitched his riffle higher on his shoulder. Focusing on anything to take away the bad memories.

His feet carried him to where he always found comfort, the classroom that was actually used as a classroom. He had forgot that Uncle Scott was no longer one of the main teachers; Samantha had taken that roll and breathed new life into the young students. Tom paused in the back of the room, leaning against the doorframe and watched as the young woman went from student to student encouraging them in their drawings. There were too many children and not enough people who could be teachers, there were plenty who were willing but didn't have the experience. So the day tended to be broken up into age groups. Currently the children about Matt's age were in the room. Tom straightened up a little so he could see what the little girl closest to him was drawing. A dinosaur.

Samantha looked up and flashed him a smile. The transformation for her was amazing. This wasn't the scared woman he had seen two days ago, this was a person who was in her element. She began to make her way toward him. Pausing at random desks to encourage more color here, or maybe a tree in the background there.

Pushing a lock of hair from her eyes she smiled at him, "Hey, I was told to tell you nothing-and that you would be all right with it if Matt skipped today but…"

Tom held his hands up to stop her, "Skipping school whatever possible is a Mason family tradition, I am just glad that they bothered to include you in on whatever they are up to instead of just ditching."

"If it would make you feel better, I could send home extra homework for him so he doesn't fall behind?"

Suppressing a laugh Tom answered, "thank you but no thank you, no special treatment."

Samantha smiled, "You have amazing boys."

Smiling at the compliment Tom nodded, "thank you." He made it a point to be approachable by any one at the compound. He didn't want to be intimidating like Weaver sometimes came off or above the civilians like some of the other fighters tended to act. The ease that Samantha approached him proved he was doing a good job at it.

A young boy toward the front of the class started coughing violently. Samantha left Tom and headed straight to the boy. Patting the boy's shoulders gently she made soothing sounds until he stopped coughing. , "Shh its ok Marcus, go to the infirmary, go see Dr. Glass." She turned to the little girl sitting next to him, "Nichole, go find Marcus's father and tell him that Marcus will meet him at the infirmary. Thank you." The two children headed in their directions and Samantha returned to Tom at the doorway. "It's all right everyone, go back to coloring. Very nice use of color Tim." She crossed her arms as she reached the door way and shook her head slightly, "another one to the infirmary, that's the fourth today. Bet Sam and the Doc are busy."

Tom nodded, "you sent four their already today?" at her nod he shook his head. "How are you settling in?"

Samantha smiled, "fine. Derek is happy to be working on something with a motor again, I get to be with children again and Sam…she didn't even come back to our room last night, she slept in the clinic."

"Is that normal?" Tom asked with a frown

"For her it used to be. When she was working a back-to-back she would just sleep at the hospital. Said it made more sense then wasting the gas going back and forth." She was quiet for a moment. "I think all of us are happy to feel needed again. I know I am." She turned to her class and smiled.

One of the little girls came up to her, smiled shyly at Tom then focused on her teacher. "Do you like my dinosaur? I am going to call him 'spike'."

"That's lovely Kimberly. Everyone look what a fine job Kimberly did."

Tom thought this was the best moment to back out. Leaving Samantha to her students.

Back to wandering his thoughts went to his favorite subject, his boys and what mischief they were plotting.

She listened intently to the young girls lungs, and didn't like what she heard. Sam closed her eyes as she moved the stethoscope bell to the lower lobes. Sometimes closing her eyes helped her tune out the world and focus on smaller things like distinguishing between crackles and fine crackles. Neither one was good. Opening her eyes as she lifted the bell she gave the father a quick reassuring smile and saw the back of the man, Tom-she reminded herself-who had made Derek release her when they had been "debriefed." She hadn't known how to tell him that the grab was nothing, they were siblings and fighting came second nature to them. But the man was gone and her opportunity to explain with him. They had been at the school for two days already, and yet the only room she had really seen was the classroom set up as a clinic. She had even slept there last night since it took less effort then trying to find the room that had been assigned her and the rest of her party. With a sigh, she circled around the little girl and took the thermometer out of her mouth.

"Hmm… well that's not good," Sam said with a slight frown

"What! What is it, how do you feel Sarah, is it that bad?" The hovering father said, his voice edging to panic.

Sam drew her eyes brows together and frowned harder at the thermometer, "It would seem…" The father appeared to be getting more agitated by the second. "No temp." The fathers deflation was comical, and made the little girl relax, something she hadn't done since getting placed on the table.

"Yep your temp is just about perfect Sarah," Sam said as she gently palpated the younger girls neck, swollen glands greeted her finger tips. "I think we should definitely start you on a STAT treatment of giggles."

Sarah looked up at her with a frown. "Giggles don't cure anything."

"Says who?" Sam demanded with her hands on her hips.

The father looked between them and frowned, "look I know your new here, maybe Dr. Glass should take a look at Sarah, I am not sure that you have enough experience."

Sam ignored the father, her patient was more important at the moment. "Did you hear about the blond who put lipstick on her forehead?"

Sarah smiled and looked pointedly at the blond streaks in Sam's hair, and shock her head.

"She was trying to 'make-up' her mind." Sam finished with a smile.

Sarah thought about it for a moment and then started giggling.

Sam let her laugh for a moment, continuing to ignore the girl's father. When Sarah was done laughing she coughed a little, and had to gasp for breath. "Do you feel how deep of a breath you just took?" she handed the young girl a tissue, "cough it up." Sarah followed her directions and coughed up a large greenish glob, which she spit into the napkin. " I need you to take ten of those big breaths every hour, and if it causes you to cough, then you just go ahead and hack up anything that you can. The more you can get out the less will be in your lungs."

Sarah looked up at her doubtfully, and then frowned at the napkin. Sam plucked it from the girl's hand and dropped it in the trashcan at the head of the bed. Smiling Sam gently touched the dads arm, " Go ahead and practice those deep breaths right now Sarah, I want to have a word with your father." With a look she told the dad to follow her. Sam drew the curtain so Sarah couldn't see them, turned to face the dad and crossed her arms.

"Well how bad is it?" The anxious dad asked.

Sam just studied him for a moment. "I am new here, and not the best with names, who are you?" Sam at least remembered to keep her voice low, and hoped by doing so the dad would follow her lead.

"Dave, Dave Summers, nice to meet you, now what is wrong with my daughter?" Dave was obviously oblivious to subtle hints about voice volume.

"Sarah has a mild respiratory infection, bacterial if you go by the color of the sputum. Her body is fighting the infection on its own like it's supposed to." Sam took a deep breath and uncrossed her arms, "I am new here, but I know what I am doing. I don't ever want you to question me or anyone else who is trying to help here infront of a patient. If you feel you need to question my or anyone's competency you better be sure as hell you do so alone. I don't want you to cause my patient or anyone else's to question our ability." Her voice was barely a whisper, but the heat in her eyes, conveyed how important the message was.

Dave looked stunned, and he took a step back, "I'm sorry, she's my little girl she is all I have left. "

"I understand that, and we are doing our best to help her, now it's your turn. The deep breathing is important, it helps to expand the airways, and forces air down to the lower lobes." Sam turned around and opened the curtain. Sarah was still concentrating on deep breathing. "Sarah, as part of your get better plan, your dad is going to tell you a joke every hour on the hour to help remind you to take deep breaths." Sam smiled at Dave, "he promises to make you laugh. And in case you cough remember how important it is to cover your mouth, do you know the vampire cough?" Sam demonstrated coughing into her elbow, "and don't forget to wash your hands before you touch your eyes, after going potty, and before you eat."

Sarah nodded and her father helped her down from the table. "Thank you nurse Sam!" Sarah said as she bounced out of the room. Sam smiled at her and watched them go.

A huge sigh escaped her as she turned to her "room". She reached for the bottle of cleaning solution and began spraying the table, chair and anything else that could have been touched. It had been a while since she had the pleasure of working with patients, how kind of this father to remind her that that pleasure came with the 'joy' of dealing with the family as well. Her brow creased in thought, how long had it been since she had used her own advice and had a good laugh. She honestly couldn't remember.

"Are you always that direct with patients family?" Anne asked from the entrance to Sam's curtained off "room."

Sam smiled and turned to face the Dr. "Sometimes, depends on what they need." When Anne didn't say anything Sam continued, "Sometimes they need to be reminded that we know what we are doing, sometimes they need their hand held, sometimes they need to get kicked out of the room because they are upsetting the patient."

Anne said nothing for a moment but smiled. "Can I borrow you for a min?" She led Sam to the next room and closed the door. "I know you have only been here a few days, but I was kind of hoping you could go out with one of our scout groups and get more broad spectrum antibiotics, we are almost out."

Nodding Sam followed Anne's train of though, "and you don't trust that the scout group will know what meds to get. What about Lourdes? She seems like she would enjoy spending some time with at least one of the scouts." Sam was good at reading between the lines. And she knew the only team that Anne would trust to get her what she needed involved Tom, and that meant that Hal would be going. It had taken all of one meal in the dinning hall-aka school cafeteria- to recognize Lourdes's interest in the eldest Mason boy.

"She doesn't have the medication background that you do. I could make a list and send it with them, but-"

"It would be faster to have someone who knows what they are looking for, gotcha." Sam looked around herself. She felt at home here, it was what she knew: helping those that needed her. How could she say no? "I just need to know how long we will be gone, and what I need to bring."

"Thank you, Maggie will be by in a little bit to help you pack." Anne gently squeezed Sam's arm.

The daily meeting had an off sound to it, which could be contributed to Weaver having caught the cold that seemed to be going through school. Tom did a quick sweep of the men who he usually rode with to confirm that none of them had the pale complexion that may indicate a coming cold. Andrew, Dai, and Hal all looked fine to him, but he would keep a close eye on them. A few others in the room were already coughing and sniffling. Which meant his crew was more likely to be picking up extra shifts.

Weaver continued on with the rotation schedule for the next few days. Tom tried to pay attention to who was going when and figuring out which ones he may end up covering when Anne slipped in to the back of the room. She closed the door so quietly he barely heard her. Flashing a slight smile at Tom she settled onto a stool at the back of the classroom.

As Weaver ended the meeting with his usual lack of flair Tom stood and stretched. These meetings were just long enough for his muscles to start to cramp. The room emptied fast, as always, everyone moving to their next duty or to the mess hall for a meal or where ever they were off to. Hal followed Dai out to check the motorcycles for their night ride. When Tom turned to Anne he frowned that she wasn't at the back of the room anymore, looking around he saw her at the front talking to Weaver. He made his way through the tables to Weaver and Anne.

"The cold is spreading faster then I thought it would, but with so many people staying in such close quarters it's inevitable." Anne was saying.

"And the supplies we have now are not enough?" Weaver asked, his arms crossed over his chest, as if he could hide the fact that he wanted to cough or the course sounds coming from his lungs.

Tom frowned, "I thought you said that Sam had a bunch of supplies with her, they only got here two days ago, are those gone already?"

Anne sighed, "I don't know exactly what we are up against, and I don't have access to the equipment it would take to sort out what strain of what bacteria we are dealing with, if I did I could pick the perfect antibiotic. But as it stands I have to use broad spectrum on everyone, which means our supply of that bottomed out this morning."

"Do me a favor and dummy that down a notch," Tom said when he noticed the blank look on Weavers face.

Anne took a deep breath before she spoke, "I do not have enough of exactly what I need to treat everyone who is currently ill, not to mention those that will soon catch the cold." Tom didn't notice the pointed look she gave Weaver, which confirmed what he suspected, Weaver had not yet been to the clinic to get treated.

Weaver nodded in understanding, that was obviously dummied down enough for him Tom thought with a small smile. "So we need more of this "broad spectrum" is that a brand or what?"

"It's a classification." Anne corrected.

Weaver leaned back a little, "Where would we get more? The local pharmacy?"

"That's a good place to start. But someone would have to go with you who knows what they are looking for." Anne said.

Weaver coughed, and frowned at the way Anne was suddenly studying him. "Cant you just wright out the name of what you want and Tom and his boys can get it?"

"There are a lot of different names for the same thing, and it would take to long for you to go through them all." Anne said with a headshake. "Its not that simple."

"And you have a solution all lined up don't you?" Tom asked knowing the answer before Anne shot a look at him.

"She knows what we need, and she knows all the possible names. She would also be able to recognize anything else that might be helpful." Anne said focusing on Tom.

Tom sighed, and scratched under his chin. "And I hardly know her."

Weaver looked between the two of them and frowned, "Are you planning on letting me weigh in on this conversation."

"Even if I said yes, would she be willing to go?" Tom asked doubtfully.

"I already asked her, she said if it would help she would be more then willing to go."

"Who the hell are you two talking about?" Weaver demanded. His explosion caused him to get lost in a fit of coughing. Doubling over, hands on knees he coughed, fighting each one, which just seemed to make it stronger. Anne pushed the chair behind him, forcing him to sit. At her direction Tom helped Weaver pull his shoulders back to expand his lungs. It took a moment, but Weaver was able to control his coughing fit. After several deep breaths Weaver demanded, "Well who the hell are you talking about." Typical Weaver to pretend there was nothing wrong.

Tom and Anne exchanged a look before turning to face him. Anne looked away first and Tom answered, "Sam."

"The nurse?" Weaver was able to choke out before a coughing fit hit him again.

Anne handed him his coffee cup and encouraged him to drink it. Weaver took the cup and tried to brush her off claiming to be fine. After a few healthy swallows he continued, "Why would Tom want to take the nurse with him on a supply run, and we don't even know where the run will be going."

"We do what Sam and her group were doing on the way here, we go to a small town and hit the clinics there. There may even be a gun store worth checking out." Anne said eagerly.

Tom caught Anne's eye and held it, "I just don't know, we hardly know her, I don't know if I can trust her on the road."

"She made it here didn't she? I think she would be more helpful then you know. "

Tom turned to Weaver, looking for back up for not taking the girl and frowned at the older man. Weaver looked terrible. They needed the medicine; Sam knew what to look for. Tom shook his head, "I am still not comfortable with this."

"I know, just give her a try? Maggie is already helping her pack." Anne said with a smile.

"And her family?" Tom asked hesitantly.

"She already talked to them, they are fine with it."

Tom nodded, "I noticed. All right I am fine, Weaver?"

Weaver looked at both of them, and went into a coughing fit. "If it gets the dam meds, I am fine with it. Just remember that her street smarts are untested, and so is she."

"I think we can take care of her." Tom said and hoped it was true.

Tom caught Anne's arm as they left the classroom and stopped her. He studied the woman before him and saw many facets to one person; doctor, mother to a lost son, wife to a lost husband, and the one person in the world he trusted with his sons safety. If it were not for that last fact, he would have refused to take Sam no matter what. "You think she is up for this."

Anne swallowed and crossed her arms, not looking directly at Tom, "Yes." Her gaze went to Tom's and she nodded, "she is the best for the job."

Searching her eyes Tom pushed, "what about Lourdes?"

Anne shook her head, "I love Lourdes, and its not that I don't want to put her in harms way, it's just that she doesn't have the med experiences that Sam does. Lourdes knows the basics, but if she came across a bag of say Flagyl I don't know for sure she would know to take it or leave it. And we don't have the time to go over every possible name that she could come across."

"And you think Sam will?" Tom asked.

"She knows her stuff." Anne sighed.

"What?" Tom pushed.

Anne looked eyes with him, feeling vulnerable in a way as she stared into his brown eyes that saw too much. "Its comforting in a way. She has habits that I haven't seen since residency." When Tom didn't say anything she continued. "Have you noticed her pants?"

"What to pants have anything to do with her competency?" Tom asked doubtfully.

"She wears scrubs still. Cargo scrubs, with a few saline flushes in the pockets. And has hemostats clipped to her shirt to hold her tape." Anne laughed a little, "its reassuring in a way I would have never thought it would be." She looked away.

Tom stepped forward and took one of her hands to draw her attention back to him. He waited until Anne was focused on him. "Do you foresee any difficulty with her joining us on this run?"

The question was asked so intently that the answer fell from Anne's lips before she had a chance to think about it, "no I think she will be a benefit."

"Benefit?" Tom asked incredulously.

Anne smiled slowly, not pulling her hand from Tom's, instead she gave it a quick squeeze. "It will be like having a field medic with you. One who is absolutely terrified of motorcycles."


	3. Top Bunk

There was nothing glamorous about traveling since the aliens showed up. Not even walking was easy anymore because you couldn't walk on roads for fear of being spotted. Motorcycles seemed to be the travel option of choice for Tom and his crew, but Sam took one look at them and declared she was fine walking the 15 miles they had to cover to the small town Weaver and Tom had decided to try first. Hal and Anthony had laughed, Dai and Maggie shook their heads and Tom just stared at her.

"Walk." He had repeated like it was a foreign concept. "You're just going to walk, off road for 15 miles."

"Maybe hike would be a more appropriate term?" Sam tried to sound sweet, but even she heard the waver in her voice.

Anthony chimed in, "If she's walking that means we have to travel at that slow ass pace, there is no point in taking the bikes."

"You agree that we are in a rather time sensitive spot rite?" Hal asked from behind his father.

Tom silence both of them with a look, "Do you know how to ride a motorcycle?" When Sam nodded he kept going, "have you ever before?" another nod, "but you don't like to?" No hesitation, just a headshake.

"Your brother Derek has been working on these babies not stop since he got here, they run practically like new." Dai said, trying to sound positive.

Tom sighed, nearly at the end of his patience. It had been hard enough to convince Weaver to bring her, and now he was having second thoughts. Or rather third, since he had originally been against it as well. "Why wont you ride now?"

Sam swallowed hard, "Have you ever heard of Pismo Beach? Large dunes, lots of fun with a motorcycle?" When Tom nodded, she continued, "ever heard of a 'dune dart?'"

Hal, Dai and Anthony started laughing, Maggie shrugged, "and so, you going to let one little accident keep you from it forever?"

Tom nodded, "when you fall off your supposed to get back on."

"That's for horses." Sam grumbled.

"What about that quad that Derek got running again? Its not the easiest ride, but it should function well enough." Maggie asked.

Tom rubbed his chin, "It would make carrying anything we found back easier too." He looked over to Hal and shrugged.

"I-" Sam tried to say it was a four wheeled version of the demon bikes, but was cut off.

"We would have to take larger trails, but shouldn't be a problem." Hal turned to Sam and gave her shoulder a quick squeeze. "We will go slow at first, and you will always have one of us with you."

"We will take care of you, I promise." Dai added.

"And if anything happens we have a nurse with us." Tom smiled.

Outvoted, and out maneuvered Sam agreed to ride the slightly less evil quad.

Tom surveyed his group one last time; his eldest, Anthony, Dai, Maggie and Sam. Not the worse assembly. He just hoped they didn't run into anything.

The 15-mile ride was accomplished in one day, which everyone in the group found chance to point out to Sam. They paused once for a stretch break. Anthony and Maggie scouted ahead giving the others a chance to grab a bite to eat and water. Sam was just happy to be off of the quad and standing on her own two feet. She leaned against a large oak tree and drank deeply from her water bottle, savoring the feeling of fluid on a parched throat. She stared up through the leaves of the trees, enjoying the kaleidoscope of color.

"Most beautiful time of year isn't it." Tom said as he stopped next to her.

She didn't bother to look toward him, just stared at the leaves, enjoying the simple beauty that the world gave them. "Not enough of us stop and remember to smell the flowers."

"Have to many other things on their minds I suspect. But it's a good reminder to us, that life goes on." Tom followed her gaze and felt the truth of his words seep into him.

"You were less then thrilled that I was going to be coming with you," A statement, not a question.

Tom dropped his eyes and found Sam studying him. He returned the observation. "I wasn't thrilled, but understand the importance of having someone with your unique skill set with us." He noticed the pants that Anne had been talking about, saw the small bulges at the pockets, and noticed the additional pockets that had been sew in. "What do you have on you?" He could see the leg holster for the single gun she carried, but unlike the rest of them he didn't see any spare clips.

Smiling Sam looked down at her pants. "Like you said I have a unique skill set, and that would be nothing without supplies." She patted each pocket in turn. "Gauze, suture kits, ace bandages, band aids, and lots of other stuff, just in case."

He studied her, trying to see more then he had that first day, more then just the determined woman who had arrived with what was left of her family. Maybe Anne was right, maybe Sam would be an advantage on this trip, and possibly others. He knew a little first aid, everyone did, but did he know enough to really help if someone was seriously injured? He nodded and looked ahead as Maggie came back into view.

"Clear for the next two klicks."

Tom nodded, "All right everyone heading back out."

Maggie caught Sam's eye and shook her head, asking silently if the other woman was all right. Sam nodded and turned back to her quad.

By the time they reached a large meadow that bordered the west side of the town Sam had developed deep appreciation for her quad. It was far more comfortable then the motorcycle that she had ridden so many years ago, and there were several grate like things on the back of it that would be ideal for attaching supplies. The rout they had taken had been colorful, not just the scenery, but the trail-which she thought was far to kind of a word for the strip of dirt six inches wide that cut through the surrounding woods-had more bumps and lurches then she would have been able to handle on a bike. She did notice that the rest of the group was skilled at their motorcycles and had no apparent problem with the rough terrene. The ride was quiet, no signs of skitters or mechs, just a few wild animals that looked at them as a curiosity.

They stopped several yards shy of the meadow and left their rides to travel on foot. The sun was just setting, making the town look peaceful and like something out of a Christmas card. All that was missing was the light dusting of snow and Christmas lights winking in every window.

"Now what?" Sam whispered, not sure why she was choosing to whisper other then it seemed like the appropriate thing to do.

Tom gave her an odd look that she couldn't interpret. "We go scope out the town, find the stores we are here for, get what we need and head home."

"What about sleep?" Sam asked

Hal smiled when he answered, "We can sleep when we get back."

"I know I will sleep better back home then here." Anthony agreed.

"We don't know where we are going rite?" Sam asked, "Not one of us have ever been here before. So why not look before we go wandering around."

Maggie nodded, "I get you."

The men exchanged a clueless look then Hal spoke up, "I don't, what did you just decide?"

"Do some homework before diving in," Sam said with a grin.

"Get a phone book from one of those houses and use it to find out where the stores we want are." Maggie translated.

Dai looked to Tom, who raised his eyebrows, "that's an idea."

"Have you ever done a raid like this during the day?" Sam asked the group as a whole.

"A few of them, we mainly raid larger distribution centers," Tom admitted, he studied Sam for a moment, "what are you thinking?"

Sam looked away. The last light from sunset was fading, leaving the world to the darker shades of gray for the night, and making the need of flashlights a certainty. "These are business, not warehouses. We are going to be dealing with windows leading to the main street. Which means any skitter standing on that street could tell where we were by looking for the flashing lights."

With a smile Dai nodded his agreement, "we don't usually have to worry about that with warehouses and armories. They don't usually have a lot of window."

Tom looked at Sam and then the town, "what do you suggest?"

"Wait for daylight."

Sleeping in a house didn't feel as odd as Tom feared it would. They had stayed in houses with the 2nd Mass, but this was different, felt more exposed since it was so few of them. There were only six of them so he paired them up for the watch. Two sets of eyes to keep watch and keep the other awake. They had watched from the meadow for several minuets, picking a house that backed up to that escape rout made the most sense. They picked a house in the middle of the block, fearing that a corner house was to exposed, two different angles that any mechs or skitters could come down. Hal and himself took the first watch, followed by Maggie and Anthony. And last Sam and Dai.

The rooming was figured out quicker then he would have thought possible. Maggie and Sam took the master, neither of them was afraid to share a bed. So the men sorted out the rest of the rooms. Hal and himself would be sharing bunk beds in a kid's room. Not the most comfortable, but as long as Hal was fine with giving up the top bunk Tom wasn't going to complain.

"Found it." Hal said from somewhere behind Tom. He stood from where he had been looking in kitchen cabinets and turned to his son.

"Anything promising?" Tom asked.

Hal gave him an exasperated sigh, "I just found it, haven't even had a chance to open it, geeze. Getting impatient old man?"

Tom nodded, "just open it." They sat on the sofa in the living room flipping through the phone book for the next hour, finding three clinic type places and a pharmacy, as well as a gun store. "Guess they were on to something with these small towns."

"Not for our normal needs, we couldn't find enough food here for our 300 back home. But for a run like this." Hal looked around them. It was a beautiful house, well kept, obviously from a well to do family. "She is definitely on to something."

Tom turned the page back to the map of the town, "two of the clinics are on the same street, so we should start there tomorrow."

"What do you think about the moving around in day light stuff." Hal asked as he studied the map. Not looking at the stores but at the possible hiding spots that skitters or mechs could be waiting for them.

At the end of a long sigh Tom admitted, "its not our normal style. But she has some good points. Flashlights would be too noticeable. And we are almost to a new moon phase, so that wouldn't help us any." Tom leaned back and scratched the back of his neck, and noticed the intent way that Hal studied the map. He had to fight the nostalgia that pulled at him. How long had it been since they had sat together on a sofa looking through a phone book or anything else? If he ignored the fact that others were there in the house and it wasn't his house, he might have been able to pretend that they were setting up a game of battle ship, or going over Hal's school work. His eyes fell back on his son and he saw the changes that this new life had taken on his eldest. Hal had matured in these past few months well beyond his years. He no longer looked like a high school student who would try his hardest to stay out past curfew. The man sitting on the sofa with him had a new look to his eye; a calculating look that saw escape routs others might not. And a man who had risked his life to get his little brother back, something Tom could never forget.

Tom squeezed Hal's shoulder, "we can do this. Hit the clinics day one, pharmacy and gun store day two if we cant fit it all in one day."

"Should we change houses every night just in case?" Hal asked.

Tom dropped his arm and nodded, "something to consider." He stood and stretched, "our shift is up, time to wake up the others."

"Just one more thing Dad," Hal said as Tom started to leave the room. Tom turned back and raised an eyebrow, Hal flashed him a smile as he declared "I call top bunk."


	4. Peanut Butter Cups

Sam ignored the shaking at first, and pushed her face further into the pillow, wanting to cling to the last shreds of her dream. A dream she had only been having since the invasion, nothing special just a memory of a day at the beach with her family. She knew that her heart would ache the longer she clung to the dream, but for a few more seconds of peace it was worth it.

"Wake up Sam, its your turn for watch." Maggie said, as she not so gently pulled the covers off of Sam to wrap around herself.

The house was chilly to the point of cold; winter was definitely on the way. To fight off the cold, Sam grabbed the smaller blanket at the foot of the bed and headed down stairs. He was already in the living room, leaning against the window frame and looking out side down the dark street. The scant light coming through the window lit his features in an odd way, making Dai look mysterious and powerful, intimidating in a way that he hadn't seemed in the daylight hours. The man she saw now was the warrior that had emerged after the invasion, the killer of aliens. Then he turned to her slightly and smiled, the illusion broke and was replaced with the quiet shy man who had had given her a lesson in how to ride a quad. Sam smiled back and felt her cheeks warm in a blush as she realized she had been staring at him.

"Sleep well?" he asked.

Sam lowered her gaze and headed toward the sofa that had its back to the window. "Pretty good, little cold." She picked the corner opposite from where Dai was standing, snuggled into the sofa, her feet tucked neatly beneath her with blanket over her legs. From that angle she could look down the opposite side of the street, and if she sat up straight she could see out the kitchen window to the meadow behind the house.

They sat in silence for several minuets; Sam was lost in the last fragments of her dream, trying to remember the small details. Like the feel of sand between her toes, and the soft salty sea spray on her face, the warm sun kissing her skin, and the sound her family laughing for no reason. The clicking of crabs claws…

"Your teeth are chattering." Dai said.

It took Sam a few seconds to relinquish her hold on the memories and focus on what Dai said. She stared at him blankly, not comprehending that the rhythmic clicking sound was coming from her mouth, not a fragment from her dream.

Dai smirked as he stripped off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. "You'll wake everyone if you keep that up." He said as explanation.

Instant warmth wrapped around her, along with a masculine scent that was oddly comforting. Sam couldn't help but sigh and snuggle into the warmth the jacket offered, "thanks." She added as an afterthought.

Dai chuckled softly, "just don't fall asleep."

They fell back into silence, Dai still leaning against the window frame looking one direction down the street; Sam snuggled in the couch looking the other way down the street.

"Is this the normal routine for a supply run?" Sam asked, her voice sounded gritty with sleepiness.

Dai was silent for a moment, "sometimes." He answered finally, "Usually we try to get most of our supply runs done at night, less chance of getting seen. We don't usually have to deal with windows."

Sam nodded in answer, and they fell back into a comfortable silence.

"If you could pick one thing that you miss the most from…before, what would you pick?" Sam asked after several minuets.

Dai was silent so long Sam feared he hadn't heard her. "Convinces." She waited a moment for him to expand on that thought, but he remained silent. "You?"

"Delusions." Her gaze remained focused down the street, not really seeing the dark houses and trees. "I miss the delusions that used to seem so important, so real."

"Like what?"

She could feel his eyes on her, but kept her focus out the window. "How important it was to be perfect, or have the newest car. The illusion of safety, that we all used to live in, that all we had to do to be safe at night was lock the front door." She was silent a moment before adding, "I miss something that we never really had anyway."

Dai chuckled softly, "wow, that's deep." He teased. Sam's eyes slowly shifted to him, and took in his smile. The easy tease was something she hadn't experienced in a while. Being comfortable enough with another person to laugh and tease, be human. Her laugh came slowly, but genuinely, and relieved a tension that she hadn't realized had been building inside of her since the invasion. Dai couldn't help but join her laugh, neither of the roared; instead they simply enjoyed the company of another, and the chance to be human.

They fell back into an easy silence after that. For three hours they watched the street and the meadow for signs of aliens, strained to hear the sounds of others approaching. And were rewarded with nothing. No mechs noises shattered the silence, no skitters crept down the shadowed street.

Sam abandoned her post as the first tinges of pink scarred the night sky to go in the kitchen and search for breakfast. She froze as she got off the couch, fingering the jacket she had forgotten she was wearing. After one last quick inhale, enjoying the warm strength she found in that scent she shrugged out of the jacket and handed it back to Dai with a shy, "thank you." His nod in return was all she expected.

The kitchen was beautiful, granite countertops, oak cabinets, the sort of thing you would find in a catalog. With a determined sigh she began rummaging. She was rewarded with two boxes of pop tarts, and a Costco size box of granola bars. She set it on the table and headed upstairs to wake up Maggie.

She found Maggie already awake and removing items from her pack that she might need for the day, primarily ammunition. "Interesting night?" Maggie asked with a grin as she checked one of her clips.

"Pleasant. He's easy to get along with." Sam answered as she clipped her hemostats to her shirt with a roll of tape hanging off of them.

"You ready for this nurse girl?" Maggie asked as she surveyed her roommate.

Sam turned to face her and was a little surprised by how much fire power the other woman was carrying. Compared to Sam and her hand gun, Maggie looked like her own armada, complete with two hand guns and a rifle across her back, Sam couldn't begin to count the ammunition clips she could see on the other woman, that would take to long.

They went down stairs and found that the men had already started breakfast. Hal looked up and tossed each of them a pop tart. Breakfast was a fast affair. Concluding with Tom mapping out the plan. Head to the nearest clinic, then to the next. Based on how full their packs were they would decide if they were coming back or heading to the third. Same deal as last night, everyone was in pairs.

Sam chocked down the last of her pop tart and pocketed two of the granola bars for later. Grabbing her empty backpack she followed the others outside.

The sunlight revealed a sleeping town. There were no sounds to greet their ears, not even the occasional bark from a dog, or bird flying in a tree. The eerie silence made everyone walk faster.

The first clinic was down a few blocks from where they stayed. They covered the ground quickly and found the back alleyway. Dai picked the lock with skill, and was the first inside. He checked the first few rooms, offices from the look of them and signaled the others to come in. Tom was last, closing the door behind him. When Sam gave him a panicked looked he explained in a whisper, "Looks normal that way from the outside. "

They stayed in a group checking each room in turn as they came to them. Once they had checked everything they split into their assigned pairs. Dai and Anthony watching the front and back entrance. Tom and Sam raided the pharmacy and Hal and Maggie going between the different rooms taking anything that might be useful, gauze, hand soap, band aids, anything.

Tom watched Sam go through the meds, ignoring most of them and taking others. They worked well together, he did what he was told to, and didn't ask questions. As they were leaving the med room Sam turned back and looked at a box up on a high shelf. She pointed to it and nodded. Tom reached for it and pulled it down. He had no idea what the writing said, for all he knew it was advertising logo on it. Sam pointed to one line and smiled. Tom angled his head so he could read it 'rapid strep test.'

He frowned, "don't we need a lab or something for this?" he whispered.

She shook her head, "if it turns a certain color positive, if it turns another its negative. Perfect for us."

They were out of the clinic with bulging backpacks within an hour.

The second clinic was up the street a ways, further into town. The weather had turned cooler, the sunlight to weak to add warmth to the air. Which Tom guessed was why there were no birds in the trees, they had already gone south for winter.

They were in and out of the second clinic in less then an hour. Sam and Tom had to do some creative shuffling with the bags to fit everything. She stored multi dose vials of Morphine and Lidocaine they found in her cargo pants. "Harder to break if they are on me." She explained. Needles and syringes went into a back pocket of her pack.

Tom made the decision to head back to their safe house to drop off what they had so far and head out again. Everyone walked with his or her head on a swivel. Sam carried those all-important boxes of rapid strep test. They wouldn't be much help if the results were negative, but if they were positive it would save some of the broad-spectrum antibiotics.

It wasn't yet noon when they made it back, Dai and Hal swept the house to be sure it was still safe as the others put together lunch. Another search of the cabinets revealed a stash of canned soups. Everyone picked one and settled down to eat. Sam took her can to the living room, along with the backpacks that Tom and she had filled.

Sitting cross-legged on the ground she upended both bags and began sorting the medications.

Tom watched from the doorway, a half smile on his face.

After a few minuets Hal joined him, "what are you looking at?"

Either Sam didn't hear them, or was ignoring them Tom couldn't tell. "Reminds me of the way you and your brothers sorted Halloween candy."

Hal watched for a moment, "Ya, to bad there aren't any peanut butter cups. You loved to steal those if I remember correctly." He said with a grin and walked back to join the others. Tom smiled softly as memories of happy Halloweens full of lots of peanut butter cups filled his mind. He savored the memories for a moment before pushing off from the wall and crossing over to sit on the couch Sam was using as a backrest.

"Fair haul." He said conversationally. As he watched he noticed Sam was taking everything out of the boxes, chucking the boxes and putting the pill still in their bubble wrap in a pile. "How are you going to know which pills are which?"

Sam smiled at him as she threw another box in the pile and handed him the pill pack. Tom looked at it blankly and raised an eyebrow. Sam flipped the pack over in his hand so the back was face up, "Moxifloxacin? What's that?"

"Its Avelox. It's a broad spectrum. There are a few piggy backs over there too." She pointed to a pile of small IV bags with a small container attached to one end.

"So even out of the box you can tell what it is?" Tom asked as he handed the med back.

"Yep, and less to pack without it, so we can carry more." She flashed him a small smile as she went back to separating boxes from pills.

Tom nodded, and leaned back on the couch. They may be able to get all this done in one-day, which meant they would be back sooner. Which meant they would be home that much faster, and that his family would be back together again soon.

With empty packs they set out again. Tom gave the map one final look before tucking it in his jacket. They looked up and down the street again and were off.

Gun store first, then loop back and get the pharmacy and that last clinic. The gun store was unsurprisingly raided. They combed over the broken racks, and picked through what others had left behind. There were a few smaller caliber rifles, and enough ammunition to make it worth the trip. Sam was given one of the 22 caliber rifles they found, Dai handed it to her with a smile and asked if she knew how to use it. Sam returned the smile and stroked the cherry wood finish fondly. Her grandfather had owned one similar to this and she had always loved shooting it.

"I think I can manage," she answered with a smile. The gun store was picked clean by the time they left, and they still had plenty of room in their packs for the pharmacy.

The pharmacy was more of a supply shop, with everything from walkers to bedpans. And like the gun store it had been raided already. Sam and Tom made straight for the back area where the medications were kept leaving the rest to search the store area. She flipped through the bottles on the floor, but shook her head, when Tom knelt next to her she answered his unasked question. "It could take hours to comb through this, and even then I wouldn't be sure that what was in the bottles was what is supposed to be there."

"So we go with things that have a seal. Items that we are sure of." As always Tom was determined to have a positive spin on things, Sam nodded but found it hard to share his enthusiasm.

Looking up at the shelves she noticed large brown bottles on top of one of the shelves in the back of the pharmacy. She made a beeline for them, grabbing a large plastic crate on the way for a step stool. Climbing up on the crate she was able to see what she had hoped for, "Tom give me a hand, if you would."

One by one she grabbed the large bottles and handed them to Tom, eight in all. He studied the label and frowned, "its Tylenol 3." Sam smiled, when Tom gave her another blank stare headshake, "Codeine cough syrup."

That he knew, Tom smiled as he offered her a hand down.

They were out and through the last of the clinics before sundown and making their way across town to gather the supplies they had left in the house.

Tom deliberately slowed his pace so he was next Sam, "Long day for you?"

She smiled, "longer in a way then I am used to." They kept pace together for a few steps, both searching the growing shadows for signs of aliens. "Good though. A productive day."

"Eager to get back to your patients?" Tom pressed.

Sam wasn't sure if he was interested in a conversation at the moment, all she knew was he was easy to talk to and she felt safe with him. "I am, but I enjoyed doing this run with you, and would be more then willing to go again."

"We aren't back in Kansas yet Dorothy, you may regret that offer." Tom caught her eye and winked, "all the same, your welcome on any of my runs. You pulled your weight. And seem to fit in with the group fine."

She looked up at him to see if he was sincere, and smiled when she realized he meant it.

"Not home yet, still have to ride back tonight." He reminded her with a smile.

Her smile faltered, great, riding the quad again…this time at night.


	5. Things that go bump in the night

They had made one last stop at the house to eat a quick dinner of soup, take anything of use from the house and relieve the new medications from their bulky packaging. After watching the meadow again for several minuets they declared it safe and headed for their rides. It took some creative arranging, but after a few minuets they had the three packs of meds, and the four boxes of rapid strep tests and bottles of Tylenol 3 secured to the back of Sam's quad. The last of the daylight was gone by the time they were ready to head back.

Sam was surprised when they turned on their headlights, thinking that the light would draw to much attention. The need for them soon became apparent to her though; the small path that she had trouble following in daylight was barley a ribbon to follow at night. She stayed in the middle of the group. Hal and Maggie rode to the group's flanks. Dai led with Tom behind him, then Sam and Anthony in the rear. She was more then grateful for Tom's taillight, it seemed to be the only thing she could really count on in the blankness of the woods.

They reached the half way point and took a break, Hal and Maggie scouting up ahead. It took Sam a few seconds to pry her frozen fingers from the handle bar of the quad.

Tom raised an eyebrow, and she held up her hands.

"What?" Tom asked stepping over to her. Anthony and Dai joined them.

Sam blushed at the attention as she showed them her hands; her fingers had a blue tint to them. That was the first time she noticed that all of them were wearing gloves. "I can't feel my fingers," she mumbled.

With a smile, Dai took off his gloves and began warming her hands up with his own.

Anthony shook his head and walked away. Tom watched for a moment, "when we get back, we have to find you a proper pair of riding gloves."

Sam simply nodded, she would have agreed to anything if it meant that her hands got to stay warm. Eyes closed she simply enjoyed the sensation of warmth and blood flow returning to her fingers. Part of her brain registered the sound of Tom moving away from them, and the murmured voices that signaled Hal and Maggie had returned, the rest of her was focused on the warmth of Dai's hands as he coaxed heat into her own.

"Whenever you two are ready?" Hal said with a laugh.

Grudgingly Sam opened her eyes and stepped back from Dai, "thanks" she whispered. He simply nodded and pulled his gloves back on.

The night seemed darker after their break, if that was possible. Sam settled herself on the quad and pulled her sleeves over her hands. It was a feeble effort, but better then nothing.

They weren't going for more then ten minuets when Sam noticed she didn't hear the motorcycle behind her anymore. She stopped and turned off her headlight, knowing Tom would notice and signal the others to stop. Dismounting the quad she pulled the flashlight from her hip pocket and peered back the way they had come.

Darkness met the beam of light, only interrupted by trees and bushes. She started to walk back the way they had come; Anthony had been right behind her, maybe ten feet? How long since she had heard his bike? Fear crept up her spine, setting the tiny hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. A cold sinking feeling settled in her gut, and suddenly the shadows looked multi legged. Her heart began pounding harder, blocking out all other noise; her breath fogged the air, blurring her vision. She took another hesitant step in the direction that Anthony should be, and nearly cried out when a rabbit darted past her, the silvery color of its coat looking so much like the color of a mech that she felt her heart skip a beat before pounding faster in her chest. Skitters she could deal with, there was something organic about them, the mechs however terrified her. They represented everything wrong with the world; their cold metal, and ground shaking strength was something that could only be conceived by nightmares. The hand holding the flashlight began to shake, causing the beam to tremble and the multi legged shadows to appear to move.

A hand grabbed her arm, pulling her around, and a breathless shriek escaped her lips.

Tom grabbed her other arm, pulling her hands down from her face as he tried to get through her haze of fear. "Its me Sam, its Tom. Come on darling, listen to my voice, your safe, your safe."

Her eyes cleared, and she stared at him like she had never seen him before. As recognition set in her shaking increased to the point where her knees no longer held her.

Tom wrapped his arms around her, bracing her against himself, and stroking her hair as he whispered she was safe over and over again.

Dai found them that way, and caught Tom's eye, "Where is Anthony?"

"I don't know, I noticed she wasn't following me so I stopped and went back to look for her, I found her a few steps away from the quad just shaking, when I tried to touch her she panicked." Tom said over Sam's head.

"Anthony," Sam tried to say but it was barley a whisper. She cleared her throat, but didn't let go of Tom. "I didn't hear his bike anymore so I stopped to see if he was all right." Her voice shook; swallowing hard she looked past Tom, who whispered a few encouragements to her. "The shadows were playing tricks on me, and then the rabbit scared me and…I'm sorry," she pushed slightly away from Tom and shook her head, "I'm sorry."

Tom pushed her hair gently away from her face, "It's all right, we all get scared sometimes, part of being human."

Dai started walking back up the trail. Tom gently lifted Sam's chin and looked in her eyes, "You better?" at her nod he dropped his hands and gently put an arm around her shoulders and guided her up the trail after Dai.

"Over here." A voice called out of the darkness to them a few paces up the trail. "Dam bike has my leg pinned."

He had gone down on his side with the heavy motorcycle on top of him, pinning his leg.

The transformation was almost freighting, one moment Tom had his arm around a girl who was scared of things that might go bump in the night and the next his arm had been shoved off by a nurse who needed to get to her patient.

"Get that bike off of him please so I can check him." Sam moved to Anthony's side while pulling a pair of gloves out of her back pocket.

Dai and Tom moved the bike and Sam pounced. She pushed Anthony back down before he was able to sit up completely, pen light in hand she peered into his eyes. "Do you have any pain? Did you loose consciousness at any point?"

"No I didn't loose consciousness, but my leg hurts." Anthony said leaning back.

Gentle skilled hands probed his leg, when he winched she examined her glove and found blood. Scissors came out of another pocket and Anthony's right pant leg was cut off at the knee. A saline flush came from yet another pocket; Sam flushed the five-inch long gash that ran along the outside of Anthony's right leg. Gauze appeared and was applied, while holding pressure, Sam moved her other hand over the rest of his leg searching for any other sources of bleeding. "Does it hurt anywhere else?"

"Hurts plenty right there." Anthony said with a grimace.

"Any thing we can do to help?" Tom asked.

Sam pulled out a second pair of gloves and handed them to Tom, "put pressure here. Dai can you hold the flash light?" From her pack she pulled out two needles and syringes. "I'm going to give you a shot of morphine, and a shot of lidocaine, the lidocaine will burn a little when it goes in, then its going to go numb that way I can clean you out and stitch you up. The morphine will help with the pain of the fall."

Anthony nodded and closed his eyes.

Hal and Maggie rode up, "What's wrong?" Hal asked as he jumped off his bike.

"Anthony fell." Tom answered as he stepped back when Sam pulled his hands off the wound.

"Wasn't my fault" Anthony said through gritted teeth. "Dam trail was to tight."

Sam pulled two glass bottles from her pockets and gave the shots, putting multiple shots of lidocaine around the wound. She flushed it several more times with saline and twice with hydrogen peroxide. Then pulled out a suture kit from her left hip pocket and began stitching him back up.

Tom stared at her the whole time. Part of him in shock that this was the same woman who a moment ago had been jumping at shadows, now she on her knees putting the last stitches in place on a wound that looked nasty at the start and now looked clean. He watched her tape gauze over the stitches and then loosely apply a ace bandage on top. When he asked about the last she smiled and answered, "its rough riding here, he needs protection from the twigs that could pull the gauze off or introduce further bacteria."

"Neat job nurse girl." Maggie said with a grin and an elbow nudge to Sam.

Sam sighed and pulled her gloves off, "It will last until Dr. Glass can take a look at it."

"I think its neat and pretty, and so are all of you." Anthony said with a smile.

Hal raised his eyebrows and stared at the man on the ground, "and he got how much morphine?"

"I isn't no fiend, I is a cop!" Anthony's speech became more slurred with each word, except the last, which came out in a pop.

Sam frowned, "I didn't give him enough to get that loopy."

Anthony laughed hysterically a little before saying, "loop to the Lou my darling!" he chuckled a few more times before his head went backwards and a loud snore came out.

Tom nodded slowly for a moment as he stared at Anthony's sleeping form "Combined it with the lack of sleep and any blood he lost…" Pausing he looked around and rubbed his chin stubble. "We may as well make camp here for a bit, he isn't going to be able to ride for a while."

They made Anthony more comfortable, moved him slightly to a flatter area and Maggie tucked his pack under his head for a pillow. Sam threw the small blanket that she had taken from the house over Anthony, checking the dressing again as she tucked him in. For his part Anthony continued to snore loudly and say a few odd phrases here and there like "I is a cop" and a few more "loop to the Lou my darlings" although the darlings at the end got longer and longer.

Tom asked the question with his eyes, something Sam noticed that he was good at, "no bleeding. And he is sleeping normally. Although I am not sure about the talking in his sleep, I don't know if that's normal for him." She settled on a tree branch not to far from Tom. Hal and Maggie were sleeping side by side a few paces down the path. And Dai was doing a circuit on foot checking for anything alien.

"If you want to get some sleep, Dai and I can handle it for a while." Tom said after a few minuets of silence.

Sam was quiet so long he thought she had fallen asleep. "I'm sorry about earlier. I just-" she shook her head and looked down at her hands. "Sorry."

He moved over to lean against the tree she was sitting on. "Your human. And fear is an emotion that we all have in common."

"I can't promise it wont happen again." Sam looked up at him. "I wish I could, but…" she looked back down at her twisted hands.

"Its all right." Tom placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a little shake. "It's a weakness though, that you need to be aware of. And something that I should have been made aware of."

"Not exactly something I am proud of," she grumbled not looking at him.

Tom dropped his hand from her shoulder, "As the leader of this group I need to be aware of anything that could potentially put the group at risk. I know it's not something that is fun to talk about, but it is important." He studied her for a moment. "Has it ever happened before?"

She didn't need clarification; Sam knew he was only doing his job, but the probing hurt like salt on a wound that never seemed to heal. "It has happened before."

Tom waited for her to elaborate, after it was apparent that she wasn't going to he pushed harder, "and?"

"It's getting better." She didn't want to elaborate and he didn't push her further. "Does this mean I will not be asked to go on more supply runs?"

He scratched his chin and looked at Anthony. "Like I said before you have a unique skill set, something that seems to come in handy. But it wont be my decision. The final say will rest with Weaver."

Sam looked up at him and waited for him to look back at her, "would you want me on anther run with your team." Part of her brain hoped he wouldn't answer.

On the receiving end of his stare Sam came to the conclusion that Tom saw too much. He didn't look at her and just see her; he saw something that she couldn't quantify. His gaze shifted to Anthony and back to her. If she had no idea what he was thinking before, now she was at a total loss. "You had a moment yes, but what you did for Anthony, none of us would have been able to do. So you will always be welcome on my team." Those penetrating brown eyes focused on her again, and Sam felt her throat close, she swallowed hard to push the emotions that she didn't want to feel down.

Dai joined them a moment later, he seemed to notice the tension between them and looked back and forth, Tom shook his head to stop any question Dai could ask. Taking the clue Dai said "No sign of anything in the area."

Tom nodded, "Sam you want to get some sleep?"

She shook her head, "Don't think I could sleep right now sir, to much adrenalin still, and I want to keep an eye on Anthony."

"Dai you?"

Dai shrugged, "I am fine for now."

Tom glanced between them and nodded, "Then I am going to get a little sleep, wake me when you need a break."

"Sweet dreams," Sam said.

Tom gave her another look she couldn't interpret before heading down the trail past Hal and Maggie a few paces and finding a tree to lean up against and go to sleep.

Sam looked up at Dai, but couldn't offer the smile she wanted to.

"Cold again?" he asked as he settled next to her on the branch.

She shrugged, not sure how to tell him that what made her feel cold wasn't the air, but her gut wrenching fear of not being allowed to go out with Tom's group again. And worse, the fear that she was the link in the chain that put the rest of the group in danger. She still didn't hesitate when Dai held his hands out to warm hers. Heat flooded her frozen fingers as he gently wrapped his hands around hers. She liked Dai's hands; they were worn and had calluses from use that felt comforting in a way she would have never expected. They sat that way for several minuets, neither speaking nor demanding anything from the other. It was a kind of peace that Sam hadn't hoped to find since the aliens showed up.

Her peace didn't last long enough, before ten minuets had passed the fear that this may be her last supply run crept in and turned her stomach sour. She pulled her hands from his, smiled and whispered thanks. She was amazed how much her priorities had changed in such a short time. Before this run she had no idea how attached this group she was going to get. Would never have thought that not being able to go out them again would scare her so much.

Dai studied her a moment before nodding in response.

Sam watched the fingers of fog wend between the trees, watched the thick carpet of the forest disappear under the haze. She didn't know how long they sat there, barely heard Dai say he was going for another perimeter walk. She checked Anthony again at some point and found him sleeping, he felt warm to the touch, but not hot. She checked the dressing and found no blood, satisfied she returned to her tree branch and her thoughts.

Mechs haunted her dreams most nights. Not the spider like skitters, or even the other aliens that she had heard whispers of, just the mechs. They had been the first aliens she had seen with her own eyes, and perhaps the fear they had inspired in that moment had put a stain on her soul. A fear that was never fully relieved, like a memory that floated to the surface given any chance.

A warm hand settled on her shoulder, and unlike before it didn't scare her. She didn't look over her shoulder, but felt the weight settled on the branch next to her. "All clear?" she asked.

Dai didn't answer at first, instead he studied her, and Sam had no idea what he saw. She began to feel awkward under such a strong scrutiny, and looked away. "Your not the only one you know. Every one of us has that fear inside of us. Sometimes it manages to get the best of us and surface, most of the time though we are able to keep it at bay." He didn't touch her, but his words warmed her all the same.

Sam looked up at him, "how?"

"By remembering two very important thing, we are not alone, and we are not defenseless." Dai brushed the hair back from her face, a gentle gesture that sent a warm wave of sensation down her back. He pushed her hair back and brought his hand to rest on the 22 rifle that was leaning against the branch next to her. "I asked if you could handle this, but do you know how to use it? Do you know that you can use it, and that it's all right."

"I know how to." Sam said softly.

Dai took both her hands in his again, "Your not alone in the dark Sam, you never are. Tom, or Hal or I will always be there if you need us."

Sam blinked back the tears in her eye "You don't know that for sure."

"What I do know is that every member of the 2nd Mass will stand behind you when you need them."

"The nightmares…"

"Happen for all of us. And we all deal with them in a different way." He stood and looked around at the others in their group. "No one came out of the invasion intact, some of us lost more then others, some less. But you need to think about why your still left, and what you can still offer to those of us that are left."

She brushed back a tear. "I disappointed Tom."

"He's a big boy, he can take care of himself, and usually takes care of all of us too." Dai offered her the ghost of a smile, "Trust in those around you." His smile grew slightly, "we already trust in you."

Sniffing, Sam tried to smile back at him, but knew it was a poor imitation.

"Do you want to take a break?"

Head shake. "I need to be awake if anything should change with Anthony."

"Then I will stay with you."

Anthony wasn't ready to move at first light. He was still loopy when Sam woke him up a few hours past. And when Hal was finally annoyed enough to wake him up at noon Anthony just smiled at him.

"And he got how much morphine?" Hal asked at the end of a long sigh as he stepped away from the still laughing Anthony.

Sam looked away, "when I first checked on him this morning he said he had a lot of pain in his shoulders from the fall, so I gave him 2 more milligrams of morphine." When she looked back Hal had his head cocked at an angle and was staring at her, "He said his pain was 10/10! What was I supposed to do tell him to suck it up?"

Maggie grabbed Hal's arm before he could say anything.

"You did the right thing." Tom said as he rubbed his chin, "just going to make travel a little more difficult for us."

Difficult meant that Hal and Anthony rode together on the quad so that Hal could hang on to Anthony and keep him on it. Anthony's bike wasn't damaged but was left behind anyway, they could recover it later, Hal and Dai gave Sam a brief refresher course on motorcycles and she rode Hal's back. The pace was far from fast, between Sam figuring out the bike, and Hal having trouble keeping Anthony on the quad they were not going to set any records.

They made it to the school mid afternoon and were greeted by coughing. Weaver's cold had gotten worse, and even Lourdes had a runny nose. Anthony was taken to the clinic and Sam went back to work, while Tom was taken to head quarters for his debriefing.

Sam watched Tom and the others go and felt the fear from the night before settle in her stomach again. Then she remembered Dai's words straighten her shoulders and went to work, she was here to help, that's what she could offer those of the 2nd Mass. And that's what she was going to do.


End file.
